Cupcakes
by IceQueenRex
Summary: L wants to do something for Light's birthday and unfortunately for the both of them, that involves eggs, flour, butter, and lots and lots - and lots more - of sugar. To make matters worse, there's a kitchen. Not all ovens are genius-friendly. L/Light
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: This began about two weeks ago and was originally for Light's birthday but my time was stolen and I couldn't finish it in time. So. I bring you belated gift, my sexy Light. XD_

_And don't worry; this chapter may be filled with L but there will be our post-birthday boy appearing in just a little bit ;) This was written for a 15 Pairs self-challenge that I detailed about on LJ and the prompt, if you haven't guessed, was "cupcakes" so, yeah. _

_Eh, I don't own Death Note, nor do I own Reno from FFVII who makes a cameo appearance (I got the idea from Tierfal XD)  
_

_On with the show!  
_

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Cupcakes

Chapter 1: The Mission

They glittered and sparkled like a hundred exciting little delights in assorted colours. And even from behind the sheet of glass, the warm, mouth-watering aroma was overwhelming. A pink tongue prodded and slid temptingly over an upper lip. The icing was thick and perfectly so; colourful and bright – _oh_, he was being enticed into simply buying an entire box…or five. But alas, he was here for…uh, what was it again?

It was the sugar, he concluded. It was all sparkly and sinfully shiny in the light and totally blinding him from the main task at hand. Yes. Sparkly sugar should be illegal during such pressing times.

L scratched his head and pouted, cocking is head to the side as he tried to rack his brain. His brain was unrackable. Even his usually brilliant vocabulary seemed to be failing him. Of all the times to be forgetful, he thought in annoyance.

Well, there was the time that Light had decided to bake a blueberry pie and had _specifically_ left L in charge of taking it out of the oven when the bell rang while he was off for a shower. And rightfully so too, seeing as he was covered head to toe in flour and dough due to an…unfortunate incident involving pretty much every single kitchen utensil on the counter. It wasn't L's fault. _Really_. L had of course agreed but his excitement had somehow rendered him deaf to the bell and he just stood in front of the oven, grinning with wide eyes only to watch the pie turn from pale straw to a lovely gold to…some sort of charcoal.

It was an honest mistake.

"_Yeah, honestly stupid,"_ Light had remarked afterwards.

What a waste of perfectly good pie.

Back to the present – or would it be forward since one was travelling from the past? – L sighed and shook his head, a finger at his lips as he struggled from the need to slip his hand into his pocket, whip out his wallet and buy himself the entire shop. Light could have the kitchen; that way neither of them would be in short supply of food.

"_You could just ask me,"_ Watari told him earlier that morning.

But the dark eyed man shook his head childishly and insisted that he was indeed very capable of handling such a situation. How hard could it be? He ignored the imaginary roll of eyes and the snorted chuckle that accompanied that question – it sounded suspiciously like Light's voice – and stared woefully at the huge sticky biscuit with pink and blue rock sugar icing.

"This would be a great deal easier if Light-kun were here," he mumbled agitatedly, frowning in annoyance. The amber eyed boy – there was a donut with filling remarkably the same colour – would have kept him on track. Even if running in a patisserie wasn't currently at the top of his list of priorities. It could take seventh place, because that was a nice number. And it was seven letters long. And today was the twenty-seventh. Life was a series of numbers, each coinciding with one another and performing the prolific task of arithmetic until the number seven was borne. And if you were lucky, it would spell "cupcake."

Finally, the impish looking boy behind the counter appeared to have taken pity on his customer with the little-lost-puppy expression, complete with nibbling thumbs and a sad little pout.

"Ya need any help, sir?"

L looked up at the messy red hair underneath his mini-chef's hat. He appeared to be no older that Light, and looked pleasant enough.

Now normally L wouldn't admit to something as embarrassing as needing _help_ for something like this but if Light and their relationship were at stake, he was willing to do so.

Raising his shoulders in a light shrug and looking to the side, the dark eyed man mumbled, "I need to…_bake_ something for a birthday."

The red head raised his brows and leaned on the counter. "You…want to _bake_ something."

Shooting him a look of disdain, L nodded brusquely. "Yes. I want to _bake_ something."

The red head – his name was Reno, if the flashy gold tag on his _manly_ apron didn't confirm his identity – leaned even closer with a concerned frown on his forehead, making him look even more like the dud L was beginning to think he was.

"Are you aware that you're supposed to _buy_ shit here? It's not some cooking school."

"_Yes_ I am well aware of that," L snapped fighting the indignant flush that was making its way up his neck. Apparently Reno noticed it too for he smiled in amusement and shook his head.

"So it's like _that, _huh?" and he was all wicked laughter behind those green eyes and was proving to be less and less pleasant prior to before he opened his mouth.

"Who's the lucky gal?"

As the boy took off his apron and hug it onto the door to the kitchen, L had the greatest urge to throw eggs. But when he noted that he had just disappeared under the counter and sounds of shuffling paper was heard, he thought that maybe he had better let the boy stay egg-free for a while longer. Besides, weren't eggs supposed to be a necessary addition to most desserts? What a waste that would be.

"It's not…it's a friend," L settled with, rolling his eyes to the corner of the shop and prodding his thumb into his bottom lip. He knew how lame and flat that sounded but the result would most probably be fairly exorbitant if he chose to speak truth. The truth hurts…_other people, _mostly.

"A friend, huh?" Reno repeated distractedly as he pulled out a few books and flipped through them, licking his fingers as he turned the pages. "Not many guys do that for friends. Must be some friend."

A small wispy smile played on the dark haired man's lips and in his mind, he saw Light last night as he surrendered himself to the couch and closed his eyes.

"_Long, long day…" _he had sighed heavily.

"_You should sleep in tomorrow,"_ L replied with a smile that was mirrored on Light's lips as the boy allowed himself to drift closer to sleep.

"_Maybe I'll take you up on that. What day is it tomorrow?"_

"_Saturday."_

"…_I'm definitely…sleeping in…" _A few minutes later, the gentle, comforting clicking of keys and the hum of the machine was the only thing disturbing the silence.

The young man didn't even know it was his birthday. And knowing him, he'd probably end up sleeping well into the next night. He almost chuckled out loud thinking of the amber eyed boy who was sleeping through his birthday at this very moment. Light always had his own way of doing things.

The green gleam that caught his eyes however, made the smile waver and taper off his face, for a very snarky looking young red head was looking at him with utmost glee.

L groaned inwardly at the words that came next, wanting nothing more than to drop his own head into a bowl of flour.

"So it really _is_ like that, hey?"

L narrowed his eyes and feigned ignorance.

"I don't believe we are on the same wave-length."

The red head smirked and nodded his head in mock agreement. "Right, right, of course you don't." L had to give the guy credit; he was good at playing the I-know-you're-lying-but-I-won't-say-anything card – it was _foldable_. The staring game lasted about twelve seconds – even though the detective was compelled to stop at seven – before Reno sighed and placed a few books onto the counter top. They were bits and pieces of paper strung together with raffia and L knew in an instant that he had succeeded in getting the owner's recipes. Some people were just too easy to convince.

"These should help; they're the copies I made so you'll just have to deal with the handwriting," he told L easily. "Why didn't you just go to a bookstore and search the culinary section? And I'm _sure_ you've got a damn computer."

Taking the booklet gently, L smiled. "Because this place is famous for white chocolate cupcakes. And if Light-kun was a flavour I believe he would most likely be white chocolate."

The stunned silence that echoed as he left the shop ended when the door closed behind him and the boy began laughing, the sound muffled by the glass and wood.

With that, he crawled into the car, pulling his legs up to his chest and grinning triumphantly at the book between.

"Home, L?" Watari asked, amusement lacing his comforting voice.

"Yes please."

Now that the hard part was over, it was time to do some baking.

And he ignored Watari's repressed chuckles, shooting him angry, warning glances all the way home.

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_A/N: Reviews are always lovely and welcome :3 _


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: Sorry, sorry, sorry for the absurdly late update. XD Busy, busy, busy these past few weeks, with exams, assignments and such. But, uhm, that'll be over for the next few weeks but then the real work begins again. Hopefully though I can finish this by then...XD_

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Cupcakes

Chapter 2: The Incident With The Eggs

The house was still quiet by the time he had arrived home and L made sure to let his beady eyes glance upward at the bedroom window – the curtains were closed – just to make sure the boy was really still asleep. It had not been uncommon for him to feel thoroughly refreshed after only a couple hours of sleep, despite having been awake for more than three days. He had not exactly reached L's standard of not-sleeping yet, and the detective didn't know if he even _wanted_ him to.

He looked much better when he didn't have suitcases under his eyes. L rather fancied that _he_ looked better in them anyway.

"All the necessary ingredients are in the kitchen cupboards – if you even _know_ where those are…" Watari muttered the last bit under his breath, brushing past the dark haired man who scowled at the man's black back.

"I'm quite familiar with the geography of the house, Watari," he remarked smartly, following the old man inside, carrying the slapdash book in his hands as carefully as he did everything else – with _two_ fingers each hand. He supposed he looked rather ridiculous, holding the thing at arm's length in front of him as if he were afraid it was going to burst into flames (he'd _die_ if it did) at any moment.

But he hadn't just spent a whole hour thinking and trying to convince the redhead at the store to give him a recipe only to _ruin_ said recipe by his clumsiness. Not that he _was_ clumsy, but his luck wasn't always that good.

Well, not since Light-kun came into the picture anyway. The boy seemed to steal all his good karma.

That was terribly unfair in his opinion.

With a sigh, L skulked behind Watari, holding that book between his two thumbs and index fingers and tiptoed into the kitchen as the old man began telling him where everything was. He was only half listening though. He'd never realised that the walls were yellow. He didn't really like the colour, but the pale blue ceiling was quite nice. Although the entire place did look like a rubber duck had drowned and died in here. With Quillish Wammy around, he wouldn't be that surprised though…

Placing the book down on the counter top, he stopped and looked at Watari, who was frowning back at him, hands on his hips and one white brow disappearing into his receding hairline.

"Are you even _listening_, L?"

The man, who suddenly felt like a little boy, blinked and shrunk ever so slightly under the man's blue gaze.

"Hm…yes?"

"Oh, very convincing, young man." He shook his head in irritation and walked out, leaving the wide-eyed boy to his devices: nibbling on the skin of his thumb.

He cast a sidelong glance to the book on the white counter that was looking more and more sinister the longer his eyes moved from its browned, stained pages, to the raffia that was tied roughly through the two holes.

"Perhaps it is time I got to work…" he said to himself with a shrug and settled himself on a stool and flipped through the book until he got to his favourite; the white chocolate cupcake. Whoever the photographer was, he gave him praise because that icing looked deliciously shiny.

Onto the recipe however, it was like reading Cyrillic. And he hadn't learnt that before. Matt would have probably been able to translate it for him; he'd spent hours in the kitchen at Wammy's, making all sorts of concoctions for Near and Mello. L had even tried his stuff whenever he went home, although apparently the other kids had always complained because he never fed them any.

Shaking his head from the distraction, L began reading, taking note of measurements, temperatures, culinary _tools_ and most importantly, food colouring. That was some extremely important stuff and could drastically change the outcome of _everything_. I was _vital_ that he got the colours right.

"Six cups of flour…sifted…_sifted?_" he mumbled, tilting his head to the side with a frown. He vaguely remembered Watari saying something about a sifter, which probably had some relation to flour. But there were no pictures, which made it difficult.

"Sifter…" Looking at the wide array of cupboards and drawers that filled the kitchen at every corner and length of the room, L rolled his dark eyes and began searching.

This was going to be a _long_ afternoon.

Maybe he should have slipped Light an extra dose of sleeping pills just to make sure…

--

Amber eyes, surrounded by a groggy, sticky layer of lashes, squinted open in the darkness of the bedroom. The curtains had been clipped all along the length of them, just to make sure as little light as possible was allowed to seep through. He was wrapped up in his duvet, looking like a chrysalis about to emerge from his cocoon. With a groan he turned around, facing the door to his room and closed his eyes again.

Sleep was still hanging off bone and muscle and the warmth of his little cave was much too seductive than the white light that was slicing through the side of the door at hinged intervals.

Light murmured something in his half-sleep and smiled to himself, thinking of strawberries, cake and apple pie. An odd dream state craving itched the ends of his mind, but he managed to swat them away, being much too tired to be getting up any time soon to the kitchen. Besides, L would probably wake him some time later to tell him to get back to work. The man had probably taken his laptop downstairs and was rushing away at those keys, his eyes scanning through pages of evidence faster than he could eat a donut. Okay, maybe not that fast.

Light opened his eyes another wink, to scan the floor where L had been the night before, only to find the man's white laptop still on the floor…_closed_.

"What the…?"

--

"Three egg whites. But the yoke is biologically attached." L tapped a spindly finger to the brown eggs that sat in the bowl and shook his head, muttering, "I need to research culinary skills more often…"

The man flipped through the pages of the book until he came to a sort of appendix at the back where the not-so-difficult task of separating the white from the yoke was described. Albeit half of the words had brown stuff smeared across that smelled suspiciously of chocolate.

The only thing he could really make out was, "Use the egg shell…back and forth…collect white in bowl."

A small curve of a smile lit up his face. "This doesn't sound too demanding."

_Take that, Watari!_

Picking up one of the eggs and rolling the other ones on the counter, L gathered that it was probably best to crack the egg open first. So that's what he did. And _crack_ went the shell and _plop_ went the egg into the bowl. Luckily the yoke hadn't broken and seeped into the white.

"Back and forth, back and forth," he murmured thoughtfully before looking at the shattered eggshell in his hands. With one half – as small and flimsy as it was – the genius detective began scooping the egg white through the sloppy mess and pouring that miniscule amount he could capture into a separate, smaller bowl.

It only then occurred to him that he had to blend the egg white later on, so with a scoff he emptied the white back into the bowl and began scooping the yellow yoke out, making a rather sickly mess all over the countertop and the edges of the bowl _and_ his fingers. But the detective didn't exactly seem to notice.

"This seems much more practical," he said to himself, proudly.

For all that L was a genius, for the thousands of cases he had helped solve over the years, for the number of kids who were trying their hardest to be considered the _Next L_, the guy had absolutely no clue about what not to do in a kitchen, nor how to prepare an easy dessert without making a mess that even Watari wouldn't want to clean up for him.

Once he had gathered six egg whites – or half anyway, the rest was in various drops over the floor, his clothes and everywhere else – the dark haired man pulled out the beater that he'd seen Watari use a few times before and plugged it in. Upon turning it on however, he was so startled by the sudden loud _whirring_ that he nearly dropped it and quickly fumbled with the off-button.

Blinking at the frightening plastic and metal contraption in his hands, L placed it down meticulously and 'hmm'd to himself.

"This…may take longer than predicted."

--

Light blinked blearily, letting the image of an L-less computer sitting on the floor all by its lonesome self. He blinked again, just to make sure.

"Oh, stuff it," the boy mumbled, annoyed as he untangled himself from his cocoon – it took almost a minute – and by the time he'd sat up, letting the cool air of the room wash over his shirtless form, he was awake, irritated at being denied his sleep and ready to go hunting for that blasted sugar-high child.

Well, _after_ he took a shower anyway.

If it was one thing that Light knew, it was that if L wasn't at his computer, he was definitely up to no good. And frustratingly enough, the man would remain blissfully unaware of just how much trouble he was causing everyone.

Pulling the curtains open, the boy flinched and closed his eyes as the heavy sunshine blared through the glass. It must have been mid-afternoon judging by the colour of the light that was beginning to give him a headache.

"Stupid sun. Why can't it just _die_ for a few days?" he muttered, stumbling over to the bathroom and locking himself inside.

Downstairs, things were just beginning to go wrong.

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_A/N: Hope you liked it :) Reviews and constructive criticism are always welcome. _


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